ALBANY, Ga. -- City officials hope a strong January in terms of attendance at the civic center will play out for the rest of the year and overcome sluggish numbers from 2010.

For the month of January, city officials say attendance was at more than 21,800 people with 20 performances and 20 use days for both the civic center and the Municipal Auditorium.

That figure is more than twice what the average monthly attendance was in 2010 and about 8,000 more than the average monthly attendance in 2009.

Assistant City Manager Wes Smith said that January's numbers show the work that the staff at both the civic center and the Municipal Auditorium were able to do to get events and get people through the gates.

"January was a great month. We saw the reintroduction of high school basketball to the civic center, we had numerous events in the arena like the peanut show and the King Day banquet that really helped boost our numbers," he said.

Smith said that civic center staff members were also able to book a solid increase in events for the conference rooms on the first floor.

Those numbers contrast starkly with sluggish 2010 numbers in which the city saw attendance drop from 158,465 in 2009 to 118,817 in 2010 despite having 14 more events.

Smith said he hopes January's numbers will carry on into February and March, which continue to see a bump in planned events.

At least 12 events were planned in February and another 11 for March, including the U.S. Marine Corps Battle Colors Ceremony on March 16 and first home game for the Albany Panthers on March 19.